Gita 11.14 – Arjuna’s mood changes from submissive discussion to prayerful veneration

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11.14 Sanjay continues his description of what is happening at the Kurukshetra war field from verses 9 to 13 he described actually the vision that was revealed by Krishna and now in verse 14 he describes Arjuna's reaction and thereafter he will describe Arjuna's response so reaction is in terms of what are the physical characteristics that he is manifesting and thereafter he will describe how does he put his astonishment in words what does he say that will be described in the subsequent verses that he is completely overwhelmed with astonishment his hair stand on end he bows down his head in offer of obeisances he folds his hands and he speaks so what's happening here is Arjuna's relationship with Krishna had already changed when he surrendered to Krishna in 2.7 when he says so he stated at that time that Arjuna, Krishna I have fallen to ignorance I have been overcome by miserly weakness so I am asking you please enlighten me about my long term good Shreya and then to express that it is not just a friendly enquiry but this is a serious submissive search for indispensable existential knowledge he says there are three expressions of submission in this I am your disciple, I become your disciple please instruct me I surrender unto you so now that is one level of submission wherein one becomes a disciple of another person here the submission goes to another deeper level here it is said that so he bowed down his head, folded his hands and he speaks with folded hands so now if we are sitting in a class even if the class is in a temple hall when we are hearing we are in a submissive mood hearing from the speaker who am I speaking but when we turn towards the speaker when we turn towards the deities at that time we are not just submissive we are actually prayerful while hearing a Bhagavatam class it is not that we sit with our hands folded throughout the class we are submissive but the prayerfulness that comes when we turn towards the lord and behold him or try to offer praises to him that is of a different degree similarly Arjuna is recognizing that Arjuna's actions are demonstrating that he is recognizing that the mode of interaction between them is now changing from discussion to to adulation to prayer, to worship to eulogy so Arjuna recognizes that this is not just a letter that the person next to me is not just a great seer he is a supreme being and he is not just a supreme being but he is revealing himself to be a supreme being even when Krishna reveals himself categorically to be the supreme in 10.8 to 11 at that time in the chatushloki bhagavad gita after that Arjuna also reiterates Krishna's his Krishna's he reiterates Krishna's message essentially by confirming Krishna's supremacy but still even then he does not shirasa it's not that pranamme shirasa devam krtanjali ramahasata there is no description there that that there is Krishna is offering Arjuna is offering prayers or folding hands or mowing his head over there so the discussion is mode of the discussion mode of the interaction is changing now from a submissive discussion to a to prayerful adulation to prayerful worship from here onwards Arjuna will start speaking and when Arjuna speaks his words are a combination of both description and veneration he will describe further what he is saying because what he is saying what he is showing is so great so magnificent that he is he intersperses the description with with obeisances with prayers with expressions of veneration and adulation and thus he reveals that he is actually appreciating the magnificence of what he is saying tatahsa vismaya vishto rishta roma dhananjaya tatahsa so this thereafter when this universal form was revealed vismaya vishto is overcome by amazement vismaya so aashcharya and vismaya aashcharya and vismaya are similar here it is stated that sarvaashcharyamayam devam it is fully astonishing extremely astonishing form is there anantam vishvatomukham anantam vishvatomukham that it was said it was unlimited so but here it is said vismaya vishto rishta roma dhananjaya his hair stood on end now if you see there were descriptions of intense emotion at the start of the at the start of the bhagavad gita also krupaya paraya vishto vishidanidham abhravid so a vishto krupaya paraya vishto there also Arjuna was overwhelmed by emotion and it is krupaya it was compassion so vision often overwhelms us with emotion what we see affects our emotions very strongly and depending on what we see our emotions will accordingly move in that direction so initially Arjuna's vision of his enemies arrayed on the battlefield in a totally bellicose spirit that caused compassion and thereafter delusion whereas here the revelation will cause Arjuna jubilation, there will also be some trepidation, some fear but afterward there is jubilation, trepidation and then there is illumination which will be there described at the conclusion of this chapter and we will come to that in due course but here this verse essentially marks a transition in the mode of discussion from in the mode of interaction from discussion to veneration thank you.